


Sniffles' Girlfriend

by sarahgirl1998



Category: Happy Tree Friends
Genre: Allergies, Comedy, Cute, Female Sneezing, Gen, Humor, Male & Female Sneezing, Male Sneezing, Original Character(s), Romance, Romantic Comedy, Sneezing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-01-17
Packaged: 2019-10-11 23:51:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17456633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahgirl1998/pseuds/sarahgirl1998
Summary: Sniffles meets a cute and friendly female anteater, and they fall in love. But the only problem is that she doesn't know about Sniffles' allergy...





	Sniffles' Girlfriend

**Author's Note:**

> To anyone who ships Sniffles with anyone else, if you’re reading this and you’re concerned, don’t worry too much. This isn’t canon, and Sniffles still likes whoever characters you ship with him. But this is what I think would happen if Sniffles met a girl of his own species. If you like the girl in this story, I’ll put her in some more fanfics and maybe some of our RPs, but only if you want that. If you don’t want that, she won’t appear again after this story. Think of this as a What if scenario.

It was a beautiful day in the forest where the Happy Tree Friends lived. Sniffles, who had just finished his work for the day, was out for a walk to get some fresh air.

As he admired the many sights that nature had to offer, he also saw someone he had never seen before. Of all people it could’ve been, it was a Tree Friend who was an anteater, just like him. Sniffles stopped in his tracks and turned back to get a closer look at who they were.

The anteater was a light purple shade and wore dark purple glasses. On one of her ears she wore a pink bow that looked just like the bow Giggles wore. She was holding a little book and writing in it with a pencil.

Sniffles blushed when he saw her. She looked so... cute. And he could tell that she was into nerdy stuff like he was. He couldn’t resist walking over to her and sitting down next to her. He took a deep inhale and sighed quietly to himself. He could already imagine himself being the best of friends with this girl. It would feel like a great many dreams coming true.

Suddenly the female anteater dropped her pencil, and it landed on the ground. She sighed to herself in slight dismay.

“Oh, darn it...” Sniffles heard her say.

Not really thinking this time, Sniffles reached over and touched her pencil, but as he did, the female anteater did the same. Both of them looked at each other for a moment, eyes widened and pupils shrunken. After what felt like a few minutes, Sniffles pulled his hand away and blushed.

“Sorry,” he apologized. “I, uh... guess I couldn’t help it.”

“No, it’s alright,” the female anteater replied. “But thank you.” She picked her pencil back up and continued writing in her book.

Sniffles wanted to look at what she was writing, but he didn’t. He didn’t want her to think he was intruding on her work.

“So, um...” Sniffles tried to think of something to say, but it was really hard for him to do so. His face was sweating pretty hard, even when he wiped it with his hand. “I don’t think we’ve met...”

The female anteater thought about this for a moment and realized he was right.

“Now that you mention it, we probably haven’t.” She turned to look at him. “What’s your name?”

“Um, my name is...” Sniffles took a deep breath, exhaled and finished where he had left off. “...Sniffles...”

“It’s nice to meet you, Sniffles,” the female anteater replied. “I’m Adeline.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too... Adeline.” Sniffles wiped some more sweat off his face. “I-I’m sorry, I don’t really know what to think right now.”

Adeline giggled at the way he said that. She must have thought it was cute or funny.

“You seem like a cute guy,” said Adeline.

“Oh, do I?” Sniffles was still blushing. “Th-Thank you... My friends have called me cute a few times, too.”

“Your friends?” Adeline asked in curiosity.

“Yeah. I have at least 20 of them, in fact. It's not too easy to have so many friends, but once I have them, they’re with me no matter what,” Sniffles went on. He took one more look at Adeline’s book. “Um, sorry if this sounds rude, but... What are you writing?”

“Just some poems I thought up of,” Adeline said. “I write poetry. If I can’t think of any new poems, I just write short paragraphs of what I can come up with.”

“Sounds beautiful.”

“Yeah, it is. I actually enjoy reading it myself,” Adeline replied. “What do you like?”

“I like to do math, read, write, and invent cool stuff,” said Sniffles. “I also do favors for the science facility so I can earn some extra money.”

“So you’re a science fan?” Adeline asked with a smile. “That’s cool. I like science, too, although I‘ve never invented anything in my life...”

“It’s okay. Sometimes it’s hard for me, too,” Sniffles said.

Suddenly Adeline got an idea. “May I read you one of my poems?” she asked. “I wrote it quite a while ago, but I haven’t recited it to anyone yet.”

“Why’s that?” Sniffles asked.

“Because from the day I wrote it, I’ve been saving it for someone special. Would you like to hear it.”

“Sure.” Sniffles nodded.

Adeline smiled and turned to the page on her book that had the poem she was looking for. She began to read.

“From the first time we ever met, I knew  
That you were a part of my destiny.  
I couldn’t bear to not see you once more.  
I want you to know me for eternity.

“From your looks to your interests,  
Everything about you is something I like.  
From our meeting in the day to our parting by sundown,  
As long as we’re together, I have a great time.

“I‘m sure that people with different interests  
Can still find a way to live in harmony.  
We may be quite different, but it’s alright;  
Together forever is what we deserve to be.”

Sniffles was moved by her poem. He had stopped sweating, but he was still blushing.

“That’s... beautiful,” said Sniffles.

“Thank you,” Adeline replied as she smiled. “Every time I’ve read it, I’ve hoped that someday, I would find the perfect lover for me.”

“Um, actually, Adeline...” Sniffles said, “I think I... I’m in... Uh...”

“Are you in love with me?” Adeline finished for him.

“Yes.” Sniffles gave a quick nod, then covered the area where his mouth would be with both hands. He blushed hard.

“I love you, too, Sniffles,” Adeline replied, meaning every word. “Maybe we can go on a date sometime.”

Sniffles removed his hands from his face and smiled lovingly at her response. “That sounds like a wonderful idea.”

Adeline closed her book and put it away along with her pencil. She stood up from where she had been sitting.

“It’s been great hanging out with you, Sniffles,” she said.

“Yeah, it has been,” Sniffles replied. He got up as well. “And thank you so much for reading that poem to me. It had to have been one of the best poems I’ve ever heard.”

“And before you go,” Adeline then said, “how would you like to show me where you live?”

“Oh, of course,” Sniffles said with a nod.

He started to walk home, and Adeline followed him. When they finally got there, Sniffles looked at Adeline. He wanted to tell her one more thing.

“And Adeline, you remember how you guessed that I love science?” he asked.

Adeline nodded.

“Not only that...” Sniffles looked behind him. “I have a laboratory where I do all my work and invent all of my things!”

“No way!” Adeline responded. “Oh, man, that sounds like the coolest thing ever. Next time we meet, could you show me what it’s like in your lab?”

“Of course, Adeline, as long as you’re careful,” Sniffles replied with a nod. “Luckily, everyone I know who’s been in my lab is very good with handling my things... most of the time.”

Adeline giggled to herself. “Hey, nobody’s perfect.”

Sniffles smiled a little at her response. “Not wrong there...”

“By the way, here’s my address and phone number.” Adeline pulled out a piece of paper with some text on it and handed it to Sniffles. “Just in case you want to talk to me or come over to my place.”

Sniffles took it, read it a few times and smiled. He wanted to say something, but the only thing that came out was a simple, “Thank you very much.”

He put his paper in his pocket and gave Adeline a hug. She returned the favor as soon as he hugged her. When they let go, Adeline started to walk away, but before she left, she turned her head to look at Sniffles one more time.

“Bye for now, Sniffles.”

Sniffles blushed and waved goodbye to her as she left. He then opened his front door and stepped inside his house, closing the door behind him afterward.

Sniffles then went over to his phone and called Lumpy. Now that Adeline was gone, Sniffles couldn’t wait to tell one of his closest friends about her. When he finally heard Lumpy’s voice, his heart jumped in excitement.

“Hello?”

“Lumpy!” Sniffles said. “You will never guess who I met!”

“Who’d you meet?” Lumpy asked. Indeed, he couldn’t guess, but he didn’t want to make that too obvious.

“Lumpy, I have gotten myself a girlfriend!” Sniffles said.

Lumpy gasped over the phone when he heard that.

“You have GOT to be kidding me!” said Lumpy.

“I know, right? I didn’t think I’d ever see the day,” Sniffles said. “She’s an anteater like me, and her name is Adeline, and she’s really nice.”

“Adeline, huh?”

“Yep. She likes science, too. But she also writes poems, and she read one of them to me, and it was really good!”

“I gotta say, Sniffles, you are one lucky guy,” Lumpy said.

“Anyway, I’m gonna try and meet her again tomorrow,” Sniffles said. “Maybe I can introduce her to you if you’re not busy.”

“That sounds like a good idea. I’d like to meet her, too.”

Sniffles took a deep breath and exhaled. He calmed down now that he had gotten everything he wanted to say about Adeline out of him.

“Anyway, how are you doing?” Sniffles asked.

“I’m okay,” Lumpy replied. “I watched a few of my favorite episodes of shows I like, then I got a large cheese pizza for lunch.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” Sniffles replied. “And are you gonna be busy tomorrow?”

“No, I don’t think so,” said Lumpy. “I’m pretty sure I’ll have enough time to meet your girlfriend.”

“That’d be great,” Sniffles said with happiness. “Thanks, Lumpy. Oh, and if anything happens tomorrow, there’s always the day after. See you soon.”

“Okay, bye.”

Sniffles then hung up his phone. For the entire rest of the day, Sniffles kept thinking about Adeline. Even as he ate his dinner, and later washed up and went to bed, he thought about her. And he saw her in his dreams as he slept.

The next day, Sniffles went to the bathroom to take a shower and wash up as soon as he got up. By the time he had dried off, he was still thinking about Adeline. Probably another sign that he was in love, but all that mattered was that he was looking forward to seeing her again.

Sniffles stepped out of his house, pulled out the paper that Adeline had given him and looked at it. He looked at the address where she lived. He put away the paper and headed off to her house.

Eventually, he made it there. Adeline’s house, a light purple tree with darker purple leaves, had newly-cleaned windows and flowery gardens at the front and back. Her name was written in a cursive pink text on the cherry-red mailbox in front of the house.

Sniffles went up to the front door and pressed his forefinger against the doorbell. A few melodic chimes played as soon as he rang and as he waited. After a few seconds had gone by, Adeline opened the door.

“Hi, Adeline!” Sniffles greeted her.

The sound of his voice made her smile. “Hello, Sniffles!”

“It’s so nice to see you again,” Sniffles said. “How would you like me to bring you to my house so you can see my lab?”

“Oh, Sniffles, that is a lovely idea!” Adeline replied. “In fact, I’m all ready to go.”

She stepped out the door, closed it, pulled out her keys and locked the door. Sniffles could briefly see that she had a keychain of a pastel kitten on her keys. Before he could see it anymore than a second, however, Adeline put away her keys and looked at Sniffles. He took her hand and they walked away from the house, heading for Sniffles’ house.

Along the way, Adeline was gazing at Sniffles and admiring how cute he looked. Sometimes he brought up his free hand to straighten his glasses or rub his trunk. They were little actions that made her blush.

Unbeknownst to the female anteater, however, Sniffles wasn’t rubbing his trunk just to look cute. His trunk was a little tickly from the pollen in the air. The itch in his nose wasn’t strong enough to make him sneeze, but it was only strong enough to entice him into rubbing his nose every few seconds. Hopefully his allergies wouldn’t try to ruin his time with Adeline.

After a few minutes had gone by, they arrived at Sniffles’ house. Sniffles opened a door that led down to the lab and brought Adeline in there with him. He switched on a light to make it easier for her to see what he had invented.

“I gotta say, Sniffles, this place is just as cool as I thought it would be,” Adeline said.

“Is it?” Sniffles asked. He blushed when Adeline nodded to confirm that she was meaning every word.

“Oh, and Sniffles? I have something for you.” Adeline reached behind her back.

“Really? What is it?” Sniffles looked at her in excitement.

From behind her back, Adeline pulled out a bouquet of flowers and showed it to Sniffles. Sniffles immediately smiled with surprise and happiness.

“Oh, thank you!” Sniffles took the flowers and hugged them lovingly.

“I grew them and picked them myself,” Adeline stated.

Sniffles looked down at the flowers in his hands and gave them a deep sniff. As soon as he did so, however, his trunk twitched. He had been right about his pollen allergies making his nose tickle, and this wasn’t making it any better. He knew what was going to happen, he was going to sneeze.

“Aaah, haaaaah... Hehhhh...” Sniffles inhaled as he tilted his neck back.

With whatever remaining power he had left in his body, he turned to look at Adeline. She was busy looking at one of his inventions, so she probably didn’t hear his buildup or even know what he was going to do. Sniffles turned away from her and pressed the palm of his hand against the underside of his trunk. He was going to stifle this sneeze as best as he could.

“HAH-- Chyee!”

“Hmm?” Adeline suddenly looked around, having heard the quiet sneeze. Then she looked at Sniffles. “Um, is something wrong?”

“No, I’m okay.” Sniffles gave an audible sniffle as he rubbed underneath his trunk with his wrist. “These flowers must’ve tickled my trunk. Sorry about that...”

“Oh, it’s okay. Do you like them?”

Sniffles nodded. He was telling the truth, but he didn’t know his trunk was disagreeing with him. The tickle from the flowers remained in his nose as he explained his most advanced inventions to his girlfriend. She listened with fascination, hopefully ignoring his frequent sniffling.

Later that day, after Sniffles had come home from walking Adeline back to her home, he called Lumpy again.

“Lumpy, I might need your help tomorrow,” Sniffles started.

“Sure. What is it?” Lumpy wanted to know.

“Adeline doesn’t know about my allergies. In fact, she even gave me some flowers and they’re still making me need to sneeze!” Sniffles gave a couple of audible sniffles to pinpoint this.

“Why don’t you tell her you’re allergic?” Lumpy suggested.

“I don’t know if I should do that,” said Sniffles. “I’m afraid that if I tell her that I’m allergic to her flowers, I’ll hurt her feelings.”

Lumpy thought about what to do, then got an idea.

“How about I come with you to meet Adeline, and the next time you’re about to sneeze, I try to help you hold it back?”

“I suppose it’s worth a try,” Sniffles said. “I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of Adeline.”

“Don’t worry, Sniffles. You won’t. Not if I can help you.”

Sniffles smiled, even though Lumpy couldn’t see it since he was on the other line.

“Thank you, Lumpy. See you tomorrow.”

And so Lumpy and Sniffles hung up, almost at the same time. Sniffles then looked up at the ceiling lamp, his trunk quivering as the light made it into his eyes.

“Gaah...” Sniffles rubbed underneath his trunk with his forefinger, trying to coax a sneeze out. Hopefully it would bring some relief to his itchy nose. “Aaaaaaahh...”

But almost as quickly as it came, the tickle in his trunk went away. Sniffles groaned and rubbed his trunk again with his forefinger. He looked dismayed and a bit disappointed that he had lost his sneeze.

“Ugh...” He gave an audible sniffle. He had an idea on how to help his sneeze come out, but he couldn’t remember what he wanted to use for it. “Where’d I put those flowers...?”

As Sniffles walked into the kitchen, he saw the bouquet of flowers that Adeline had given him. The flowers were now on a plastic vase that had been sitting on an end table for decoration, still blooming and smelling nice, if still sneezy. Sniffles smiled to himself and went over to the flowers.

“Gee, I hope this works...” he thought to himself. He held the heads of the flowers close to his trunk and gave a long, deep sniff.

Suddenly his eyes widened and his pupils shrunk. His trunk froze for a moment, and then began to shiver as though it were cold. As soon as he had sniffed those flowers, a massive tickle had made its way into his nose. Sniffles removed his hands from the heads of the flowers and began to inhale.

“Aaaah... Heeehhh... Hiih-haaaaaaah... Ehh, aaaah... Haaaaaah...” Sniffles took a step back every couple of inhales or so. “Huuuuh... Haaaah, aaaaaah... Ehhh, EEEEH...” Sniffles rubbed his forefinger gingerly underneath his trunk, but only made it tickle even more. His trunk twitched and rumbled furiously with allergic irritation. “Heeeeeeh... AaaaaaaaAAAH... HAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH....”

Sniffles tilted his upper body farther and farther back as his trunk tickled and twitched madly. He drew in larger and larger breaths as seconds went by. But just as he thought he would be trapped in this pre-sneeze state all night, he finally exploded with a gigantic sneeze.

“HEEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!”

Sniffles’ sneeze echoed all throughout his house, and he could bet it would have been heard from the front and back yards as well. A good amount of spray came out of his mouth as he released the sneeze. But to his internal surprise, his trunk hadn’t had enough relief yet. Sniffles tilted his neck back once more before he entered a sneezing fit.

“Hiitchyew! Aachyu! Tchoo! Ehh-chew! Haaashyuuu! Heetchyuuu! Haaah-tchee! Heeeeh-chyuuuu! Huuuh... Aaaah-choo!!”

“Uuuugh...” Sniffles sniffled wetly and rubbed his reddened trunk with his forefinger. “My, goodness... Well, at least Adeline wasn’t here to see that.”

Sniffles pulled out his handkerchief, intending to blow his nose into it. Unfortunately for him, trying to blow his nose when his nose and mouth were in the same place was really difficult. The most he could do was rub the base of his trunk with his handkerchief. Sometimes he exhaled forcefully through his nose, thinking it would count as a nose blow, before he went back to wiping his nose. Hopefully it would dislodge the mucus that his sneezes had accumulated during his allergy fit.

When Sniffles took another shower that night, he was still exhaling through his nose and rubbing his trunk as he washed himself. His nose didn’t stop running, however, until sometime after he went to bed.

The next morning, Sniffles woke up, stepped out of bed and went into the bathroom to wash up. As he got ready for the day, he saw that his trunk was still a little pink from the night before. Hopefully two things could happen; either it would recover before Adeline saw him, or she wouldn’t acknowledge it. Sniffles really hoped the latter was the one that would happen; he didn’t want his girlfriend to think he wasn’t feeling well or something.

When Sniffles opened the front door and stepped out of his house, however, a particularly noticeable tickle made its way into his trunk. With no time to do anything, he inhaled and sneezed, doubling over as he did so.

“Haaaaah-- Tchyuuu!”

As soon as the sneeze escaped from his body, Sniffles rubbed his trunk with his forefinger as he sniffled. He could tell that the amount of pollen in the air was larger than normal. He went back into the house and went into the bathroom for a moment. He took a bit of his allergy medicine and gulped it down with a glass of water, then went back outside. He felt a bit better now, but what the intelligent anteater didn’t realize was that just because he had taken his allergy medicine, didn’t mean he would be completely safe from the pollen outside.

While Sniffles was walking to Adeline’s house, he met up with Lumpy. Lumpy had also taken his allergy medicine today, but unlike Sniffles, Lumpy’s medicine was successfully keeping him from sneezing.

“Hey, Lumpy,” Sniffles greeted him.

“Hi, Sniffles,” Lumpy replied as he waved to him.

“Would you like to come with me to meet Adeline before she and I go out today?”

“Oh, sure,” Lumpy replied with a nod. “It’d be nice to get to know her.”

“And you remember our plan, right?”

“What plan?”

“If I feel like I have to sneeze, you try and stop me,” Sniffles explained. “I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of Adeline.”

“Oh, okay,” Lumpy replied. “I got it.”

Sniffles and Lumpy went over to Adeline’s house together. Sniffles’ trunk was still tickling, but since he had taken his allergy medicine, he didn’t have to sneeze. But he was pretty sure that that would soon change.

When the two of them got to Adeline’s house, they walked up to the front door. Sniffles rang the doorbell, and after a few moments, Adeline opened the door to answer.

“Hey, Adeline!” Sniffles greeted her. “I’d like you to meet one of my friends. His name is Lumpy.” He gestured to Lumpy, who was standing next to him.

“Hi,” Lumpy said politely.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Lumpy,” Adeline said. “I’m Adeline.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Lumpy replied.

“Anyway, Adeline, I was wondering if you’d like to come to the park with me today,” Sniffles stated.

“Oh, Sniffles, that is a wonderful idea!” Adeline replied.

“By the way, Lumpy told me he’d come to the park with me, too,” Sniffles went on. “I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, not at all. He seems like a very nice person,” said Adeline. “I’ll go with him, too.”

“Thank you,” said Lumpy.

Adeline stepped out of her house and locked the door behind her. The three of them climbed down the steps and walked away from her house.

Once again, Sniffles and Adeline held hands during their walk to the park. And for the first time, Lumpy had gotten to see them do so. Lumpy blushed and giggled to himself in adoration. He was happy that Sniffles had gotten himself a girlfriend, but he couldn’t help but wonder how long this romance would last. After all, he was pretty sure that Sniffles already had a lover - and if that was the case, they were a lover who really shouldn’t know about his girlfriend.

But the most important thing was he had to make sure Sniffles wouldn’t sneeze. That wasn’t going to be easy, however.

A few minutes later, the three finally made it to the park. It was a perfect day to be here, and they could tell. The sun was shining, the sky was a perfect clear blue, and there wasn’t much to be heard aside from the birds’ pleasant singing and the soft blowing of the wind.

Sniffles and Adeline went over to a bench and sat down on it. They held hands and gazed into one another’s eyes, while Lumpy stood close to Sniffles to make sure he didn’t have to sneeze.

After a few minutes of holding his girlfriend’s hands, Sniffles looked down at a flower growing out of the ground. He smiled and let go of one of Adeline’s hands. He reached down, picked the flower out of the ground and offered it to Adeline. The female anteater blushed and took the flower gently from his grasp.

But as she did that, a little bit of pollen from the flower arose and reached Sniffles’ trunk. His nose immediately started to tickle, but he tried to ignore it as best as he could. Eventually, however, his trunk started to twitch, a sign that he needed to sneeze.

“Um, would you... *snf* ...excuse me?” Sniffles managed to ask before he trailed off.

“Of course, darling.” Adeline smiled kindly at him. “Take as long as you need.”

Sniffles let go of her other hand and turned away from Adeline. He was facing Lumpy this time. Sniffles’ breath began to hitch as he placed his forefinger underneath his trunk in an attempt to stop the sneeze. But it probably wasn’t going to work. “Aaaah... Hehh, haaaaah...”

Lumpy heard Sniffles’ inhales, read his mind and placed his forefinger directly underneath Sniffles’ trunk. The sneeze was stopped, or it appeared to be.

“Th-thanks, Lumpy...” Sniffles said, quietly. His voice was audible enough for Lumpy to hear, but not loud enough for Adeline to hear.

Lumpy smiled at him in response and pulled his forefinger away. But that turned out to a big mistake - as soon as he felt his friend’s finger be removed, the urge to sneeze returned with no warning. Sniffles’ trunk twitched madly, he tilted his neck back and then he exploded with a monstrous sneeze.

“HAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH- TTTTTTTCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHYYYYYYYUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!”

This sneeze not only echoed throughout the park, but it was so loud that Lumpy plugged his ears as soon as he heard it. Adeline heard it as well and cringed in shock and disbelief. It had to have been one of the most forceful sneezes Sniffles had released this week - or it was probably the second after the one that kicked off his allergy fit from yesterday.

And to Sniffles’ embarrassment, his trunk hadn’t been satisfied. With no time to react, Sniffles inhaled and sneezed three more times.

“Heeeeehhhhhh-TCHEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWW!!! HUUUUUUUUUH-CHYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWW!!! Ehhh... Aaaaaaaaah-chiooooooooooooooooo!!!!!”

Lumpy stared at his friend in disbelief and concern, while Adeline’s eyes were wide and her pupils were shrunken in complete shock. She had never heard any sneezes as strong as Sniffles’.

She tried to speak, but the only thing she could say was an emphatic, “Oh, my goodness!”

Sniffles finally recovered from his sneezes, but his trunk was a bright red. He groaned as sniffled loudly and rubbed underneath his nose with his forefinger.

“S-Sniffles! Are you alright?!” Adeline asked. “I have never, EVER heard anyone sneeze like that before!”

Sniffles turned to look at her and immediately realized that she had seen the whole incident. He blushed as hard as he could in dismay and embarrassment.

“Oh, my! Adeline, I’m so sorry!!” said Sniffles. “It was my darn pollen allergy! I tried not to sneeze, I really did... But I just couldn’t help myself! Please don’t be mad at me!”

Aside from believing that he had made a fool of himself, Sniffles expected Adeline to have some kind of negative emotion towards his sneezes. Maybe she could have been disgusted at how much spray he released, or at the very least, annoyed that that was how he sneezed. Fortunately, her response was the complete opposite of what he thought it would be.

“It’s alright, Sniffles,” Adeline replied. “I’m not mad at you or anything, I just couldn’t believe what I heard. I’ve heard some loud sneezes in my time, but... Wow. You really surprised me, Sniffles. But it’s alright.”

Sniffles took a deep breath and sighed with relief as he heard her response. He continued to rub his nose as he sniffled a few more times.

“Oh, and by the way...” Adeline pulled out a tissue from her pocket and offered it to Sniffles. It had to have been a coincidence that she carried tissues with her like Sniffles did. “Bless you.”

Sniffles smiled, accepted the tissue, pulled his forefinger away from his nose and started rubbing his trunk cutely with the tissue. Adeline giggled as he did that.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, Sniffles, but I think it’s pretty cute when you wipe your trunk,” Adeline stated.

“Is it?” Sniffles asked, but before she responded, he unexpectedly sneezed again. It wasn’t a loud sneeze like the ones Adeline had heard; it was his normal, mild sneeze. “Aah-tchyu!”

Adeline blushed and giggled even more from hearing the sneeze. She thought it was much more endearing than those loud sneezes she had heard from Sniffles. She took a moment to enjoy how cute it had sounded, and then blessed him once more as he rubbed his nose again with his forefinger.

“Awww. Bless you,” said Adeline.

“Thank you.” Sniffles kept rubbing his nose as he sniffled. He didn’t notice Lumpy was blushing as well.

“Yeah, bless you,” Lumpy said. “Sorry about that, Adeline. Sniffles is allergic to lots of stuff, so he sneezes a lot, and... I sneeze a lot because I’m allergic to lots of stuff, too.”

“Oh, really?” Adeline asked. “Don’t worry, that’s no problem at all. In fact, I like hearing other people sneeze, and sometimes, I make my friends sneeze if they want me to.”

“You do?” Lumpy and Sniffles asked, almost in unison.

“That’s right,” Adeline said. “I have to admit, though, I think quieter sneezes are cuter than louder ones. Those tend to surprise me a lot, but under the right circumstances, I can find them funny, cool or even cute.”

Lumpy looked down at Sniffles and smiled. “I guess she has more in common with you than I thought!”

“Yeah...” Sniffles blushed a little. “I already knew she liked some of the things I like, but sneezes, too? That’s really something.”

Suddenly Adeline remembered something. “Excuse me, can you two keep a secret?”

Sniffles nodded while Lumpy simply said, “Yeah, why?”

Adeline looked behind her for a moment, and told her secret.

“I’m allergic to lots of things, too, and they all make me sneeze!”

“W-what?!” Sniffles’ eyes were widen and his pupils were shrunken in disbelief. He could tell Lumpy was having the same reaction, even though he wasn’t looking at him.

“You’ve got to be kidding...!” Lumpy said.

“No, it’s true,” Adeline replied. “I’m allergic to things like pollen, dust, feathers, pepper, and different kinds of powder.”

“Me too,” Sniffles replied. “Pepper is my worst allergy, though. The one that makes me sneeze the most...”

“I can already imagine why.” Adeline giggled a little. “I have a similar reaction to that stuff, but my worst allergy is actually feathers. Every time I try to handle one of those, it tickles my trunk so much and makes me need to sneeze so badly.”

“I can relate to that,” Sniffles admitted.

“I had that problem once when I had to use a writing quill.” Lumpy blushed a little when he said that. “I’m kind of allergic to those...” Adeline giggled a little from imagining that.

“And Adeline, can I ask you a question?” Sniffles asked. “It might sound weird...”

“Oh, of course. What is it?” Adeline responded kindly.

“May I... hear your sneeze?” Sniffles looked away and blushed. “I haven’t heard it yet...”

Adeline looked down at the flower in her hand. “Well, I don’t see why not.”

She held the flower to the base of her trunk and gave a few light sniffs. Almost immediately, her trunk twitched and her breath hitched. She needed to sneeze.

“Haah--! Aaah... Haaaaah...”

As she inhaled, Adeline tilted her upper body back and pressed the palm of her hand underneath her trunk. As she did so, Sniffles and Lumpy looked on, the former looking almost excited.

“HUUUUH-- Ah-chew!” Adeline snapped forwards with an audible but soft and cute sneeze.

“Eeeee!” Involuntarily, Sniffles squealed and giggled as he heard the sneeze.

Adeline pulled the palm of her hand away from her trunk, but then noticed Sniffles’ reaction. Not embarrassed, she giggled and rubbed underneath her trunk with her forefinger.

“Bless you, Adeline~!” Sniffles said, almost sounding like he was cooing. “That was SO cute!!”

“It was? Why, thank you,” Adeline replied as she continued to rub her nose.

“You know, that actually was pretty darn cute,” Lumpy commented. “Bless you.”

Adeline gave a single sniffle and then pulled her forefinger away. “Thank you, too.” From one of her pockets - not the one she had gotten Sniffles’ tissue from - she pulled out a light pink handkerchief and rubbed her trunk gently with it.

“Do you... always sneeze like that?” Sniffles wanted to know.

“Yeah, pretty much.” Adeline replied as she sniffled a few more times. “I can let out some bigger and louder sneezes, but those are really rare.”

“I wish I could sneeze like that,” said Lumpy. “I really, REALLY love when someone sneezes like that.”

“Me too!” Sniffles replied.

Adeline blushed as she continued to wipe her nose. After a few moments, she put her handkerchief away and looked at Sniffles.

“Sniffles, I think you and I are going to get along just fine,” said Adeline.

Sniffles blushed and smiled as he heard that. “I think so, too.”

Adeline held out her hands and Sniffles not only took them and held them, but soon pulled her in for a hug that lasted for minutes on end. Lumpy blushed as he watched, as enamored as they were.

“I guess I didn’t have to bring Lumpy after all...” Sniffles figured as he and his girlfriend finished their hug.

“I didn’t say you didn’t have to,” Adeline replied. “In fact, I think you made the right choice in bringing him. But just between you and me, no matter how close me and Lumpy may become, I will always prefer you.”

Sniffles smiled and giggled as he heard that. He felt lucky that Lumpy hadn’t heard what Adeline had said. But he was even luckier that he had found a girlfriend who shared all of his interests and his personality. He could already tell that this relationship would last a lifetime.


End file.
